Stoughton schools lift temporary hiring freeze

Sunday

Jun 29, 2014 at 9:02 PMJun 30, 2014 at 12:12 PM

By Allan Stein

The Stoughton School Committee voted to lift a month-long hiring freeze, citing a reduction in the number of "threats" to the fiscal 2015 school budget.On June 26, the committee voted unanimously to end the hiring freeze across the board following a brief discussion."We just wanted to make sure we saved the budget until those threats were removed or addressed," school committee chairman Erdem Ural said.On May 27, the committee voted the hiring freeze after the state labor board found that the committee broke the law when it did not pay step increases to eligible teachers.At the time of the vote, the committee faced a potential fine of $70,000 for nonpayment of steps and a threat from the town manager to cut the school budget at Town Meeting if the committee ratified the new teacher contract.A majority of the committee did not ratify the contract, prompting the Stoughton Teachers Association to file a class action lawsuit against the committee and the town. The town stands to pay $1.5 million in potential liability for the suit for non-payment of wages.The committee also had been operating under the threat of teacher layoffs if the tentative agreement was not ratified."At this point, it is evident that some of these threats have dissipated. It is also evident that the remainder, if any, can be deferred to the FY16 municipal or school budget," Ural said.The last budget freeze was in 2009 when the school district was faced with a $400,000 loss in state aid. The freeze was on all spending and allowed the hiring only of essential staff and supplies purchased on an emergency basis only.Ural said the potential budget impact from the class action suit won't be felt in fiscal 2015, which starts July 1.STA President Andrea Pires did not respond to a request for comment.